These kits are designed to service a wide variety of locks including, but not limited to, Schlage, Kwikset and Weiser. A universal kit has some important benefits that will be explained.

 

     What is the difference between a .005 and .003 Pinning Kit?

            The difference between the .005 and .003 kit is the available pin sizes. A .005 kit contains pins that are farther apart in size, whereas the .003 kit’s pins are closer together in size.

           

.005 Pinning kits use pins that are in .005 increments

                        Example: The pin size increase like this .195,.200,.205,.210,.215,.220,etc

           

            .003 Pinning kits use pins that are in .003 increments

Example: The pin size increase like this .195,.198,.201,.204,.207,210,etc

           

      What are the benefits of a Universal Kit?

1.      You only need one pinning kit to service several brands of locks.

2.      The universal lock pins are less expensive than original pins.

3.      If the key you are pinning up is worn or a bad copy from the original key, you can adjust the pin size accordingly.

 

Example:

A Schlage number (2) bottom pin is a .195. If the key you are working with is worn, a .195 pin will not be high enough to work in the lock smoothly. The next size of Schlage original pin is a (3) or a .210, which is much too tall to allow the lock to turn. So, if you have a .003 pinning kit, you can move up to the next pin size, which is a .198. This effectively alleviates the shallow cut of a worn key, allowing the lock to turn smoothly.

 

     Which Universal Kit is the best?

This is a question we are asked frequently. The .003 Pinning kit is superior to the .005 because of the difference in pin size. A .003 kit has smaller increments between pins, allowing the user more choices in pin size when keying a lock.

 

The only time when a universal pinning kit may not be the best choice for pinning   locks is when servicing Kwikset locks. Why?

 

            Please look at the example below

 

 

1B        .172                 .171     .170

2B        .195                 .195     .195

3B        .218                 .219     .220

4B        .241                 .240     .240

5B        .264                 .264     .265

6B        .287                 .288     .285 or .290

 

 

As you can see, some of the pin sizes are off by as much as .003. When master keying or keying a lock with small tolerances, you will find the lock will either not work or will turn very hard.